A Roller-Coaster Ride called 2014

When people ask me what exactly do I write on my blog, my answer is the same: “Any random topic under the sun. I write about anything that touches me deeply.” In my amateurish journey as a writer, I have written mostly about certain incidents that I have read, experienced and watched and my learning from them. As I unfold another chapter of learning in my life, I realized that the year 2014 has taught me multitude of lessons. This year has been a challenging one for me. A year which has tested my aptitude for hard work and at the same time rewarded me what I deserved. There were many people with me, like my life-guards in this frenzy ride of 2014. 

The year of 2014 began with the last industrial visit of my graduation life. We went to Jaipur, one of my favourite cities, which is full of resplendence, regality and Epicureanism. Visiting the mesmerizing palaces of Jaipur and enjoying the pure vegetarian delectable cuisine, was an exhilarating experience. It was my last and the best industrial visit with my fellow classmates. After the rejuvenating break, time came to focus on the entrance and University exams. The month of February was a disheartening for me as my beloved maternal grandmother left for heavenly abode. I miss her presence a lot, but I also know that her blessings are with all of us, always. She was a principled woman with immense courage, patience, discipline and had lived her life to the fullest. As it is said, “The show must go on”, life had to regain normalcy. It is important in life to cross the dark tunnels coming in our way and welcome the brightness in life with open arms. The months of March and April proved to be the determinants of my career ahead and the time to bid farewell to my college for 5 years, Mulund College of Commerce, along with my beloved friends Gauri, Mitali and Snehal. These three are some of the nicest persons I met in my Graduation years.

The month of May was a special one for me as my writing got a broader coverage by means of my blog, which was earlier limited to the newsletters of my college. With writing, I began looking at things with a different perspective and channelized my thought process in an unprecedented way. Needless to say, I consider it as a medium to boost my creativity. 

The months of June and July were full of anticipation, with stress levels and pessimism on the peak. The outcome of so many anticipations was a positive one, when I got admission into a good B-school on the basis of efforts I had invested in. The tedious travelling by local trains was something which came as an appendage with my new Post-Graduation life. Local trains, well, are inevitable in every Mumbaikar’s life. Thus, began my unique journey into grooming for corporate world. 

The month of August was a starting point where I had to adapt to my new surroundings. What exactly is social learning, I realized after entering CRKIMR. Here I met people from different cities, diverse educational backgrounds and most importantly, of different mindsets and distinctive ideas about life. Fortunately I met some like-minded people with whom I struck chords of bonding immediately. My first friend in MBA was Priyam. We share not only common educational backgrounds but also have similar sense of humour. I can always speak my mind to her. She is my confidant and stands by me in all good and bad times.  My next friend which I made here is Lokesh. Besides being my travel companion, he is a great motivator, a good listener, a teacher, my source of laughter and my staunch supporter. I also met a few 'philosopher' friends in this institute. Interaction with them is equivalent to learning something new every time, not just from their philosophies but also from their experiences. It was nice meeting a few like-minded people who share my penchant for writing. It is an exciting experience to read their ‘work’ and gauge their areas of interest which in turn means, getting acquainted to their styles of writing. I never imagined that I could be a source of inspiration for someone, when my good friend Nitesh, too thought of giving writing a serious thought, after reading my blog! I tried something new, like participating as an anchor of my college event or facing an interview for being the Class Representative. The appreciation which I received in these two instances, gave me an impulse to face similar events in corporate life.

It is rightly said ‘Every human being is different’. I am convinced of this postulate after getting to know my classmates better each time, by interacting with them on various occasions. With such exchange of ideas, I noticed my personality transmogrify from an introvert to an extrovert. I learn something new every day not only from my teachers and subjects, but also from people around me. It is fun to get to know 60 different psychologies! Interactions with various people, be it the staff of my college, my classmates or teachers, they hone my interpersonal skills, one of the pre-requisites for a successful manager. I am sure that in the next year and a half that I am here, I will be taking with me a treasure full of knowledge. Valuable knowledge about my core area of specialization and from my helpful companions in college…. I hope to have similar colleagues in my future corporate life. I get a taste of corporate life every time we have to work as a team, follow deadlines to submit projects or to stay back after college to finish the given heap of presentations. At the same time, I mentally prepare myself to face harsher conditions than this, when I am actually in the battlefield of the large conglomerates. Gone are the serene, peaceful days of Graduation life, when, right from travelling to studies, everything seemed a cakewalk. But isn’t that we call Life, where, as I mentioned in my previous article, nothing is constant but change? 

2014 has indeed been an exciting ride, where I faced many ups and downs. This year taught me the lessons of gratitude, optimism and hard work. Every negative experience taught me to do better and every good experience encouraged me to keep up with my good work. Of course, the journey would not have been fun without the loving bunch of people around me, be it my family or friends. As I bid goodbye to 2014, I cherish all the happy and sad moments felt and move on with life with full exuberance and confidence. So here I am all set to welcome 2015 with new set of challenges and hardships, with a big smile!